A Research on the Jurisprudential Verses of Books of Misguidance

The term kutub al-ḍalāl (books of misguidance) is not used in the Qur’an and traditions; Shaykh Mufīd has first mentioned it and the author of Jawāhir has for the first time referred to some verses about their rulings. Following the author of Jawāhir, many jurists paid attention to it due to the invention of printing and the emergence of modern mass media and adduced to certain verses concerning them, and some made conclusion on the unlawfulness of using satellite channels from those verses. Thus, although the term “jurisprudential verses of books of misguidance” is not used by the jurists, the above term is true due to the reference of the jurists to those verses. The above verses have been adduced to for keeping, compiling, writing, and acquisition of livelihood with the books of misguidance. However, intention to misguide by these books and the occurrence of misguidance is the precondition for the unlawfulness of keeping the books of guidance, hence keeping books of misguidance in itself is not unlawful. In one aspect, the Qur’an has called people to hearing words of others and following the best of words (the Qur’an). Nevertheless, writing, publication, and acquiring livelihood with them is unlawful and giving response to the misconceptions of those books is essential.